Would you feed your child chemicals that would cause them to be hyper, moody, or distracted? Of course not, no parent wants that. Well, this blog is to help parents understand that your kids probably eat foods at every meal that could really keep them from being their best. It's time to get the word out.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Blue dye still makes her cry

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. There wasn't much new to say. We've been really successful avoiding dyes in our food for quite a while. We've pretty much limited all the other petroleum based products too (artificial flavors, preservatives).

Then came St. Patrick's Day. The kindergarten teacher ran out of alternate snacks that I usually keep stocked for each classrom. So she sent me an email saying how bad she felt and did not want my daughter to miss out on the class treat. She thought since they were white cupcakes with white icing and only a little bit of green sprinkles that it would be OK. Let me tell you, it's been just "peachy".

There was the sobbing, sobbing, sobbing about everything the first night, then the "I don't want to sleep in my bed" routine in the middle of the night. She normally sleeps quite fine the whole past year when she's not on food dye. More "melt downs" followed today. It should run it's course by tomorrow.

I commented on the blue, even though the sprinkles were green, because I'm guessing it was yellow 5 or 6 along with blue 1 in the ingredients. We thought back to the day we banned blue, the last of the food colors to leave our diet. We had taken the kids to see Santa and let each of the three of them have a blue lollipop, since we had not seen blue to cause much trouble until then. We got home and all 3 kids started crying about nothing at the exact same time. Then they all continued to cry a lot randomly, on and off for the rest of the day with no apparent reason. It was enough for my husband to say, "enough...no more blue...ever."

It's kind of funny that we made it through the big red food holidays (Christmas and Valentines) with no trouble, as well as Halloween. Go figure it's the green one that gets us. Feel free to comment if blue makes your child cry too, or if your child ever has trouble sleeping after consuming food dyes. I like to let others know it's not just my family who experiences this strange phenomenom.

5 comments:

It's amazing how one little bit of dye brings them right back to the meltdowns.

Our new gymnastic teacher gave both kids huge red stamps on both hands and within an hour, my almost 3 year old bit me three times (and she doesn't bite).

I recently discovered that my kid's intolerances (we are gluten/casein/soy free and on a dye/preservative/salicylate/amine free diet) are all linked to a phenol intolerance. I had thought they were all unrelated issues but everything (except gluten and casein) fall under the phenols. I've started supplementing them with amino acids that their brains are lacking (taurine, glycine, gaba, transfer factor) and the diff is amazing. My previously aggressive/hyperactive/sleepless 4 year old is calm and no longer beating the crap out of his sister and both kids are sleeping way better. Do a google search for "phenol intolerance", it's insane.

Re: Caseys comment -I had no idea there might be more out there that can get to a kid!! I think I need to check it it. We can't even play with PlayDough unless she wears gloves and tatoos etc are a big no no!!.

As for the blue-we were allowing it to in the start then I just went dye free but it seems that something always sneeks in and people don't realize that even a little daud will doya!! OOOh boy I do feel for you. But as we all know it goes thru the system and after we are totally insane the kids are back to normal. Crazy stuff they put into our foods and likes.

Brilliant blue is part of the recipe for green dye! Blue is our worst offender. It triggers pale, vomiting style migraines for my dd. Green actually isn't quite as bad as straight blue...but it isn't good either.

Shows you that all the synthetic dyes should be avoided --all the time. After all, they are all made the same way--from petroleum. If one causes a problem, another will as well if you take in enough of it. BHA, BHT and TBHQ also come from petroleum. Bad, bad, bad.

I hear ya! We have to avoid all colors, flavors, salicylates, and preservatives. We are a feingold 1family and the diet therapy has worked wonders for us. This coming week is so important with the FDA hearings addressing artificials. But we all can do something right now, don't buy products with artificials. Look for no colors, flavors or preservatives on the label. Love your blog and look forward to reading more. I invite you to follow along with me too. Say no to petro!!

About Laurie

I'm a mother of 3 and a part time Counselor.
I'm interested in improving the health and well being of children. I have found food coloring to play such a crucial role in the well being of my own kids, I want to get the word out. I think we should all work to make the world better than we found it. If even one family finds their child better off by not having food dyes, than this blog is successful.

More about me

First I was a therapist. I have a Masters degree in Community Counseling. I have treated children with emotional and behavioral problems for over 15 years. Never once in my advanced clinical studies or in my extensive reading and web searching about ADHD and other behavioral issues, did I ever hear about food coloring.I am also a Mom. It took me 7 years of parenting to discover that food coloring was a trigger to many of my children's worst behaviors. I didn't go looking for something to blame. I didn't really think there was anything wrong with my kids. I only found the connection by accident. When I first starting telling people that food coloring was bad for my children, they looked at me like I was nuts. I wondered if it was some weird trait carried only in my family. Now I know better. I'm not the crazy one. Entire countries are banning dyes from their markets. I hope the FDA or Congress catches up soon. So many children will be better off, if we can just get the word out.

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